Mortal Blow: An Urban Fantasy Series (Succubus Hitwoman Book 1)

by Eliza Hendrix

  Leisurely, she stands on her high-heeled shoes, the clicking sound hypnotizing me as she approaches.

  I want to slash her throat, but I can’t. In fact, I can’t move at all.

  “Oh, my sweet Emily,” she says, gliding a finger down my arm. “If you’re here to kill me, it’s because someone’s sent you. Who sent you, Emily?”

  She stares into me and my mouth goes dry.

  Snap the fuck out of it, Alexis.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I say.

  She leans in close, her lips almost touching mine, and moves toward my ear.

  “I think it matters,” she whispers. “You don’t want to kill me, love.”

  She’s right—I don’t.

  But for five million big ones, I will.

  Besides, she’s gone all evil now and she’s causing a bunch of problems in the city. I can’t let my personal centuries-old feelings get in the way of that.

  “What if I had a way to give you what you wanted?” she says.

  She’s a vampire. I can’t trust a word she says. She must sense my reluctance; she giggles the way I remember and plays with the tips of her long hair.

  “I’m not an idiot, Emily,” she says. “I know many want me dead. I’ve angered quite a few people in this city. Rumor has it that I’m after Asmodeus’s throne.”

  “Are you?” I ask.

  A twinkle flashes in her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything. I know that look, and it confirms the rumors.

  “You would think after so many years… gender inequality would no longer be an issue,” she says.

  I grimace at her. “What’re you talking about?”

  “Asmodeus,” she says plainly. “He’s old-school. He also happens to be a walking corpse. It’s time for him to retire, Emily, don’t you think?”

  I’m about to open my mouth when she glides a finger across my collarbone and down my chest. As much as I want to slap her hand away, I can’t. Instead, I take in her sexy figure and fantasize about climbing on top of her naked body.

  “You know how this goes, Emily. A woman tries to take power and every man in the city tries to take her down.”

  “I’m not sure that’s what this is about.”

  Her finger moves upward and over my lips. “I don’t know what you’ve been told, love, but I’m not the enemy.”

  How can I believe her? I realize Jamieson isn’t the nicest guy around, and I don’t know why he wants her dead so badly, but I do what I do for the money—I don’t do it to help people. And right now, Veerka’s old ties to me are getting in the way of me and my riches.

  “Why don’t you join me?”

  I almost laugh in her face. “Join you?”

  I take in her pale shoulders, her perky breasts, and her flawless hips. God, what I wouldn’t do to have my way with her.

  The problem with Veerka and me is that we were never able to have each other—at least not physically. Back then, I wasn’t able to control my powers, and I’d often end up killing anyone I had sex with. I loved this woman… truly loved her. And yet, I could never have her. It was always a game of cat and mouse between the two of us.

  I spent years trying to control my power, killing countless people in the process to have her. I’m not proud of my approach, but that’s how badly I wanted her to be mine.

  “I’m a vampire now, Alexis.”

  Finally, she uses my new name. I’m about to thank her for stating the obvious when she bites her lower lip and scans me from head to toe. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you?”

  Is she toying with me? For all I know, she’ll try to kill me the moment I put my guard down. This is exactly why I avoid emotion—it gets in the way of shit.

  She takes a step closer, and I stand still, unable to look away from her piercing eyes. Slowly, she wraps her fingers around my wrist and tickles my skin with her long red-painted nails. But then, out of nowhere, she applies more pressure into my forearm, puncturing my skin.

  I yank away, but she holds me tightly.

  “Relax,” she breathes.

  As dark blood slips out of my cut, she bows her head and glances up at me with a sexy smirk. She parts her lips, her cool breath landing on my arm, and sinks her teeth into me. The pain sends a hot, throbbing sensation between my legs.

  I don’t stop her. Instead, I let her drink, my eyes fluttering as I imagine myself tearing off her clothes.

  Veerka knows I can’t feed off vampires, and she also knows vampires can’t turn me into one of them. She saw it for herself over seven hundred years ago in York, England. I can’t remember the exact date, but I remember her eyes.

  * * *

  “Emily,” Elizabeth hissed.

  She lifted her long taupe cape and hurried across the cobblestones. Her flawless face was hidden within the shadow of her hood, illuminated partially by a pair of sconces hanging above a door in the alleyway.

  Unable to stop staring at her, I smiled.

  God, she’s beautiful, I thought.

  There was a certain innocence to her that made me want to caress her, protect her, and ravage her all at the same time.

  Invigorated by the idea of roaming the city’s most dangerous street at such a time, Elizabeth covered her mouth and released an anxious giggle. Peasant feebles never ventured to this place at night, but I knew Elizabeth wanted excitement, so that night, I decided to offer it to her.

  The alley was quiet, aside from loud drunken voices coming from behind closed doors.

  We were about halfway down the alley when out from the shadows came an overly tall vampire in pointed shoes, a bloodstained white tunic, and torn suede pants. As he moved toward us, an evil smile deformed his pasty face. With a bowed head, he dragged his claws against the alley’s stone walls, a loud scraping noise filling the air around us.

  Dry blood sat on his chin, and his fangs looked like they were throbbing for more.

  “Ladies,” he said, soothingly.

  Admittedly, he used a different word, but I’m not going to bother trying to remember Middle English terms.

  “You should not be traveling such roads at night,” he said.

  Elizabeth gasped, and the vampire’s attention instantly shifted toward her. Pointing his nose at the starlit sky, he sniffed like a bloodhound, his rust-colored smile cracking even wider.

  When he caught my scent, however, he winced.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked. “Not what you’re hungry for?”

  This was it… my chance to show Elizabeth how badass—

  The next thing I knew, searing pain penetrated my neck and I was floating in the air with the vampire’s mouth wrapped around my throat. Pulling his fangs out, he dropped me to the ground as if I were nothing more than a bag of garbage.

  What the fuck? How had he moved so fast?

  Wiping his thin bloody lip, he hissed at the night sky.

  I shot back up, fists clenched. “That all you got, motherfucker?”

  Okay, what I did call him was a smell-feast, but motherfucker sounded way more intense.

  He must have realized that biting into me was pointless. In a split second, his hungry eyes turned on Elizabeth. She looked petrified. Stepping backward, she tripped over her cloak but caught herself against the wall before tumbling over.

  That’s when I lost my shit.

  Without thinking, I grabbed the good-for-nothing vampire by the jaw, his lower canines puncturing holes in my fingers, and I pulled down as hard as I could. He shrieked, the sound causing my ears to ache, and reached for his dislocated jaw that hung awkwardly in front of his neck.

  With a tight fist, I punched him in the nose—an unnecessary attack, but one that felt good, nonetheless. He stumbled backward as dark blood poured out of his nostrils, resembling black paint across a blank canvas.

  I reached inside my cloak, extracted my hand-carved stake, and spun it twice in my palm before stabbing him through the heart.

  A wave of panic washed over him, but within secon
ds, he erupted into a pile of ash. The brown and gray specks floated through the damp air before landing on the cobblestones at our feet.

  When I turned to Elizabeth, she looked mortified.

  “That… that was far too close,” she said.

  I felt stupid for how quickly everything got out of hand. Never once had I seen a vampire move so fast before. I couldn’t even anticipate his attack. What if he’d attacked her first? He could have killed her.

  “Way too close,” I said.

  The corner of her lip suddenly pointed upward. Why was she smiling?

  “How is any of this funny?” I asked.

  “I’m not laughing,” she said, her focus lingering on my lips.

  I should have been freaking out about what happened, but I was too busy staring at her body to care.

  She wanted me… it was obvious.

  Without warning, I pinned her hard against one of the alleyway’s doors and she breathed out excitedly. Holding her down, I kissed her lips, her neck, her chest.

  My kissing evolved into aggressive sucking until at last, she pulled her cloak out of the way, raised her dress, and reached inside her undergarment. With her fingers, she rubbed in twirling motions, moaning with pleasure.

  As she touched herself, I throbbed hard and painfully, wanting nothing more than to be the one to bring her pleasure. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t strong enough yet.

  So instead, I held her by the throat as her hand moved faster, and harder, and imagined myself sliding my fingers inside of her. As her exhilaration amplified, I pressed my body against hers and thrust, our bodies moving as one.

  I may not have been able to be inside of her, but I wanted to feel her hot breath against my skin, the contraction of her muscles, and her heartbeat against my chest.

  Suddenly, she grabbed my hair and pulled back hard, which only excited me more. Rapid breaths slipped past her wet lips, telling me she was on the verge of climaxing.

  Then, she did something I couldn’t have anticipated; she reached for the bite wound on my neck and spread the blood across my throat, my chin, my mouth… and kissed me hard.

  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t turn me on.

  She forced her tongue inside my mouth, filling it with the taste of warm blood until at once, her body contracted and a shrill whimper jumped from her mouth and into mine.

  To stop myself from forcing her legs apart and fucking her, I dug my nails into the wooden door behind her and counted to three.

  When it was over, her body relaxed and she stood silently with her lips covered in blood and her cheeks a hot pink. I kissed her over and over again, feeling like I’d ingested a lethal amount of drugs.

  Every time we did this, the torture of it led me to believe I might die. But there was one problem: the idea of not having her at all made me want to die.

  Chapter 29

  ──────────

  “It isn’t complicated,” Veerka says. “You stage my death and we both win.”

  I scoff. She makes it sound like it’s as easy as cracking an egg.

  She must sense my reluctance. Tilting her head to the side, she smiles. God, I’ve missed this woman. But… is she truly the same person I once knew? She can’t be. A few hundred years changes a person. What if this is a setup?

  What throws me off my game is how when I look into those bright blue eyes of her, I can’t help but feel at home. As cheesy as it might sound, it’s like our souls are connected. It’s always felt that way with her.

  “How does your boss like to receive confirmation?” she asks.

  “Depends on the job. Sometimes before, and always after.”

  “So not the act of killing itself?” she says.

  She can’t possibly think I’m that stupid. “I’m not giving him anything to use against me, so no, I don’t record me killing someone. I show him the mark, and then the body.”

  “Well, that’s simply ridiculous. How does he expect you to kill a vampire and prove it?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, getting impatient. “He’s never asked me to before. Anyways, he trusts me.”

  She tightens her lips, looking bemused. “Trusts you?”

  “I may have my faults,” I say, “but when it comes to work, I do my job.”

  I’m about to make some smart-ass remark about how she wouldn’t understand that because she probably never worked a day in her life, when something bright catches my eye.

  “Where’d you get that?” I ask, pointing at the huge shiny stone around her neck.

  She reaches for it. “This old thing? Lucius gave it to me.”

  Of course.

  “Buying your love?” I ask, gritting my teeth.

  If there’s one thing that irks me more than Veerka now being a vampire, it’s the idea of another person, or thing, touching her. No matter how much time has passed, I still think of her as mine. Whether that’s a succubus thing or a Scorpio thing… I’m not sure.

  “He tries,” she says casually.

  “You don’t love him?” I ask.

  What the fuck is wrong with me? I haven’t felt jealousy in centuries.

  “He’s a stepping-stone,” she says.

  She keeps looking up at the ceiling—one hell of a fancy ceiling, might I add—almost as if annoyed by the very thought of him. Does she not care about him? Is she using him? One reason I fell in love with Veerka way back when was her innocence, but I suspect she lost that a long time ago.

  Turning away from me, she leans against her bedpost. “He underestimates me.”

  I know Veerka. I don’t give a shit if I haven’t seen her in centuries. I know who she is deep down. And deep down, she’s a soft soul—a good person. Her life has no doubt toughened her up, but she’s always been inherently sensitive. Could becoming a vampire have stripped that away from her? When she says that he underestimates her, I wonder: is that exactly what she wants? Is she playing him? Is she using her sensitive side to toy with his mind? By now, she must have realized how valuable her innocence can be—or at least, what’s left of it.

  What do I know? Maybe everything about her is a lie, and she has become a monster.

  I must be glaring at her because she lets out an entertained laugh. “Oh, Alexis. Do you honestly think I could ever love such a man? He’s like Asmodeus. All he wants is power.”

  “Like you,” I say.

  She doesn’t deny it. “Perhaps. But at the end of the day, I want what’s best for everyone.”

  Bullshit. No vampire wants what’s best for everyone.

  “And what’s that?” I ask.

  “A life without fear of retribution.”

  So Kyle the rock man was right. Veerka’s trying to bring shadow dwellers and feebles together.

  “You think feebles and shadow dwellers can coexist,” I say matter-of-factly.

  Of all people, she should know that such a thing isn’t possible. It never has been, and if she thinks being a vampire for a few years, maybe even a century, makes her capable of changing that, she’s delusional.

  “It’s better than the alternative, isn’t it?” she says.

  I gawk at her. “And what would that be?”

  “Oh, Alexis. You know exactly what’s going on. Lucius and Asmodeus want to control feebles. They’re allowing humans to pay fortunes to become vampires. Do you have any idea what that’s going to cause? Vampires will outnumber feebles, and eventually, feebles will become extinct. Either that, or they’ll continue to be farmed and kept in torturous living conditions for the sole purpose of feeding us.”

  What the hell does she care? She’s a vampire. Why would she give two shits about feebles?

  I must be making a face. Deliberately, she walks toward me again and plays with the front of my shirt.

  “How can vampires survive without food?” she says.

  I knew this was really about her needs.

  “Lucius is old-school, Alexis, same as Asmodeus. The only thing they care a
bout is power, money, and blood. Lucius assures me that there are plenty of feebles to go around, but he doesn’t look ahead, the way I do. What this world needs is the mind of a woman—”

  “You mean your mind,” I cut her off.

  She smirks. “Alexis, think about it. Eventually, Asmodeus and his vampire leaders will lose control. More and more vampires will stop obeying their commands, and they’ll feed off of innocent feebles. Some may even turn their entire families into vampires simply for immortality.”

  While I hate to admit it, she’s right. Things could get ugly pretty fast if vampires start to overpopulate.

  “What do you say?” she says. “Won’t you join me?”

  No, I won’t, you psychotic bitch.

  She stands so close to me that her perky breasts almost press against mine, and I hold my breath. All I want to do is throw her onto that massive bed behind her, pull up her dress, and have my way with her.

  “Be my partner,” she says.

  Partner? What kind of partner are we talking about? The corner of her lip pulls up, revealing a sharp vampire fang, and it becomes apparent to me that this partnership is going to involve a lot more than business.

  “How can I be your partner?” I ask. “You’re working alongside Lucius.”

  “For now,” she says. “But with your help, we can change that.”

  When I don’t respond, she leans in close, her cool breath slipping past my lips. “What do you say, darling?”

  It takes all my willpower not to press my lips against hers. Although everything inside of me is screaming to run the other way, I can’t. I’ve wanted Veerka most of my life, and now I’m being offered that chance. I’m also being given an opportunity to take down two vampires I despise more than Hades.

  “What’s in it for me?”

  Aside from getting to fuck you, I mean.

  My boldness seems to intrigue her. “I’ll pay you.”

  “How much?”

  “I’ll pay you whatever your boss pays you.”

  “You’re asking me to cross my boss. Not only will I lose my job, but I’ll have a target on my back.”

  “I’ll give you double what he pays you.”

  I pause, mulling it over. “Triple it and you have yourself a deal. But if you so much as try anything—”